Hey, y’all! Brent Perry with Business on Purpose.
A couple of definitions for the word margin according to Merriam-Webster,
“a bare minimum below which or an extreme limit beyond which something becomes impossible or is no longer desirable”
“the limit below which economic activity cannot be continued under normal conditions”
“the difference which exists between net sales and the cost of merchandise sold and from which expenses are usually met or profit derived”
As a business owner, you are probably well aware of the margin in which you run your business. You look at cash flows and profit and loss statements. We even have some tools specifically for some of our clients at Business on Purpose that calculate exact margin ratios for each job being bid or finished.
But that’s not the margin I want to talk about today. There is another definition in Merriam-Webster for margin,
“to provide with an edging or border”
“to provide with an edging or border”
If you want to see your business Flourish in 2022, you have to be willing to draw some borders for things that matter in your business. Your weekly schedule, your people, time to work on your business, not just working in your business.
This is Building Margin in Your Business that I want to talk about today.
I was working with one of our clients a few weeks back who started a non-profit organization that has really taken off in the last year. She has a full-time job at a university teaching business ethics, while she also sits as the Executive Director and on the Board of Directors of this non-profit.
We started talking about her weekly schedule and the balance of her roles and responsibilities during our coaching time together. As you can imagine she feels, as most of y’all do too, there is just not enough time in the day to get everything done. 8 pm the night before she had gotten the kids ready for bed, was about to jump on a zoom call for a PTA meeting for her kids' school, still had papers to grade, and work on a board of directors meeting coming up…this is what a long night looks like when running a business.
The bad news is that we can’t get you more time in the day…the hours are set. The days and weeks and months will continue to fly by. BUT we can help set boundaries in the day to day that will allow space for taking care of the things in your business that are potentially being neglected or glossed over.
You have to own your schedule!
You have to make time for team meetings or they are not just going to happen.
You have to set aside time for onboarding a new team member.
You have to create margin in your day to bid on projects, or prospecting, or cold calling…keeping your pipeline full.
These are just a few examples that may relate to your specific business, but chances are you already have in mind the tasks that need to have space to be completed, but so often they get pushed to the next day or the next week.
Own your schedule.
Wherever you are listening or watching right now, do me a favor. Get your calendar out and start adding some time in your week. Protected time that cannot be moved. Treat these times as if it’s lunch with your best client…somebody calls to get on your schedule it can’t be moved. Just like you wouldn’t cancel that lunch, you cannot cancel on yourself.
Let’s make the time to work on your business. Let’s make the time to care for your people. Let’s make the time to learn and grow and equip yourself as the leaders in your business.
Thanks for listening.
If you haven’t done so already, subscribe to our Podcast, and/or our YouTube channel.
Is there a magic formula for sustaining success in my business? I wish I could say yes, but there are some strategies to help you get momentum!
Good morning friends, Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose here.
So… we get it all the time. Thomas, I feel like I take 2 steps forward and 1 step back every week. Or maybe it’s worse, 1 step forward and 2 steps back. How do we get momentum? How do we take that success, replicate it, and then repeat that over and over and over?
I’m here to tell you, there’s not a magic wand to wave. It takes work and consistency and… wait for it… process.
However, we have found a few strategies that every business can implement to keep you sustaining success.
So let’s dive right on in today.
The first step towards sustaining success in your business is…
1. Find someone to help you implement
It sounds simple, but it makes as big a difference as we’ve seen in every business we work with. So much so, as it’s become a question we ask as we interview potential new clients. Do you have a key leader who can help you implement all of this?
Ok, but why? Why can’t I just motivate and charge forward with my team following my lead? Well, in short, you can. But what happens when you burn out? What happens when your team starts to tune you out and your voice becomes stale? A whole lot of nothing.
That’s why having someone who helps you implement is invaluable. Another voice on the team helping push everyone towards the vision. Helping you see things you couldn’t and implement all the changes and corrections along the way. Someone who can see your mistakes, think critically, and help you correct them in real-time. That person is a game-changer.
We build out a ridiculous amount of tools with our clients and the ones that we see thrive week in and week out are the ones who can pass these tools down the chain of command and out to the team as they implement. They don’t just sit in a google drive folder somewhere to rot and collect dust. No, they are used to empower the team to get better.
If you don’t have someone helping you implement, hire them today or develop one amongst your team. It’s that important.
2. Listen to your customer
Hey, Thomas, we do google reviews and send out surveys to hear how we’re doing.
That’s great! But I’d wager that most of that is to give you a sentence or two to use on your website… or maybe even to drive sales.
But how often do you invite a client to lunch and REALLY ask how their experience was? And I mean everything. How did they feel early on with our estimating? How did the schedule go? Did it line up with the expectations we set out? Did we even set expectations? How was our communication along the way? Could it be better? Was our team dressed professionally? How was the quality of work? How was our clean-up? Did we follow up with you to make sure everything was perfect? Did we collect payment in an easy fashion?
These are all questions that you need to know the answer to from your customers' perspective. I was so proud of a client of mine recently, who called every sub he used, sat them down, and figured out how to improve his customer experience from start to finish.
That’s a game-changer…that’s what creates rave reviews and sustained success. Because you own all parts of your customer experience. You don’t just throw up your hands and say…”Well, that’s out of our control.” That’s a fixed mindset. No, ask how you can get better. Invite clients you trust to lunch and talk through all of this. They will feel valued, heard and will probably refer you 10x more as a result.
3. Own your weekly schedule
Now, this one gets to the heart of the matter. If you were to sit down on a Monday and write down the things you KNOW have to get done and done well, what would those things be? I’d imagine it doesn’t start with email. And yet so many of us leave email open to dictate our day all day every day!
No, start with what matters. The big-time blocks…and find the best time to do those. Blocks for sales or prospecting. Blocks for estimating and invoicing. Blocks to meet with your team and train. Those things MUST get done well.
Then figure out the next group of items and add them to your schedule. Is it email and voicemails? Great, give yourself a set amount of time to finish it. Is it continued ed or recording processes? Do it.
Your task will take up as much time as you will give it. So learn to control the chaos and give yourself a realistic amount of time to finish something. Deep work…then move on. Even if you aren’t finished sometimes, to keep yourself on task.
Lastly, fill in the little 30 min blocks with the little tasks…cleaning up, ordering, simple admin tasks, mindless things that you can fit in anywhere.
This one's tough. Give yourself a few weeks to lean into the weekly schedule. Don’t change it immediately, but take notes and tweak after a few weeks.
That’s how you control the chaos. That’s how you sustain success. Or at least take a great giant leap towards sustaining success.
Hope you have a great week!
LIVE TALK FROM International Builders Show '22:
3 Must Do Steps All Business Owners Do To Lead In A Post-COVID Reality
by:
Scott Beebe
Founder | Head Coach
My Business On Purpose
Hey, y’all! Brent Perry with Business on Purpose.
The story goes like this…
“The day of the opening, people from all over the world came to Epcot, to Disney World. One of the reporters came up to Roy Disney, the brother of Walt Disney, and said, "It must be bittersweet for you knowing Walt never got to see this.”
Roy Disney smiled and responded to the man and said, "You're mistaken. It's clear why you are merely a reporter of other people's visions and not a creator of vision.” He said, "Walt saw this. That's why you're seeing it now.” - words from Roy Disney.
You see, Walt Disney had a lasting vision that continued far beyond his passing in 1966. In his bio, he is referred to as an American entrepreneur, animator, writer, voice actor, and film producer. I would add another adjective for Disney, he was a visionary. And the good news… you can be one too.
The definition of visionary is simple, “thinking about or planning the future with imagination or wisdom.”
As a business owner, you have the opportunity to be the visionary for your company. And in reality, you already are, so how lasting will your vision be?
It’s no coincidence that one of the first modules we walk through with our clients is crafting a vision story for themselves and their business.
As we state in our vision video…
“Where there is no vision, people become detached.
Where there is no vision, people scatter.
Where there is no vision, people die. (This is a little ominous and straightforward, but it drives the point home).
We believe the Vision Story is the most crucial course to the future of your business and to liberating you from the chaos of working IN your business.”
And we don’t just want to help you create a vision for your business in the here and now, we want to build with you a vision that will last.
So how do you create a lasting vision for your business?
Step 1, incredibly simple… write it down!
In an article written by Lacey Stone in Time magazine she states,
“You have to work for it. But somehow, even if you don’t know how it’s going to happen, knowing what you want to happen and writing it down helps it become reality.”
Writing out your vision will be a step in making your vision become reality, and thus making it one that lasts.
Another step, also incredibly simple… share your vision!
Your vision isn’t just something that you write out and put in a drawer for nobody to see / have access to. Your vision should be shared, especially with those closest to you. Business partners, key leaders, team leaders, I would go as far to say as all your employees. Bring them into the vision that you are creating, and let them walk with you in that direction.
These are just a few steps to get you moving towards a vision that will be lasting. A vision that will guide your steps as you walk in 2022 that can be a year of Flourishing.
Thanks for listening.
If you haven’t done so already, subscribe to our Podcast, and/or our YouTube channel.
What do you want to be remembered for as a business? It’s an important question without an easy answer, but let’s figure out how to get there today. Good morning friends, Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose here.
I’ve spent a lot of time recently with clients talking through their mission statements. Now, most mission statements are bland…gutless, and generic at best. They serve little purpose other than putting some ink on a piece of paper to say that you have one.
But… attaching mission to your business can actually serve to give it a purpose that is powerful and can propel you towards significant meaning in the working world.
Typically, the question we use when we ask business owners about their mission statement is…”What gets you out of bed in the morning and excited to do what you do?” For us, that’s always been liberating business owners from chaos.” It gets us jacked and ready to take on both the good and the bad of our weekly schedules.
I was working a few weeks ago with a client and asked him that question… it didn’t really land. Well, maybe it landed, but it didn’t lead us to a powerful mission statement. So I rephrased it…what do you want to be remembered for?
That got the juices flowing. He started throwing out keywords that propelled him forward to realizing his mission and what he wanted to be remembered for. Words like service, creativity, teamwork, leadership. All of that. Pieced together to help him understand his why!
So… if I was to ask you the same thing. Do you have an answer?
Do you know what you want to be remembered for? And here’s the kicker… does your process reflect that. You have to take it one step further.
If you want to be remembered for having the best, most qualified team, do you invest in them, send them to trainings, spend time developing them as leaders to make sure they are the best and the most qualified?
If you want to be remembered for having the best product in your industry, are you investing in R&D, getting feedback from your clients to see where you can improve, and making sure that no one is better?
If you want to be remembered for serving and helping your clients succeed, do you have meetings on the front end to capture that vision, do you take the time to listen, and is that a part of your process?
These things matter. Your process has to reflect your mission because it’s what you’re going to be remembered for.
Or are you like most people? Winging it… day after day. Not really knowing why you wake up and do what you do. Or what sets you apart. No, the future is a bit fuzzy, but it’s ok, we’ll figure it out.
No… take the time to build out a mission story that propels you forward. A mission statement that gets you excited to wake up in the morning and get to work instead of complaining that it’s Monday yet again.
You spend too much time at work (almost ⅓ of your life) to just get by. Get excited, know what you want to be remembered for…and then build out and invest in the processes to realize that mission.
That’s how it’s done. I would wager that if you went about every day with that kind of intentionality, your team would want to be apart of you business for a long, long time…and the inspiration that trickled out to the community would be contagious.
I hope that makes sense, so spend some time today asking yourself, what do you want to be known for.
Have a great week!
We were celebrating the birthday of one of our clients whose business was 70 years old. To create a memorable experience, the owner of the business decided to hold a full day training off-site at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, and invite what many believe is the most decorated and successful coach in College Football History, Coach Nick Saban.
To the 100 people who attended, we were taken through a variety of stories regarding the Alabama Football program and through some of the fresh details of their National Championship run that ended in a loss to the Georgia Bulldogs just less than two weeks from the day we were hearing Coach Saban speak.
Saban told stories of success and failure and continued to use the word “leadership” throughout his discussion. To bring texture to his view of leadership Coach Saban would use word descriptions such as fit, character, adversity, mindset, culture, intelligence, and intensity.
Although he never provided a concrete definition of leadership, Coach Saban certainly took the audience into his cupboard of leadership ingredients and allowed us to see and smell some of the measurements he and his coaching staff use in leading a group of student-athletes into a world of elite college football where he soberingly adds, “there is always a reckoning”. In other words, the cake will always be tested.
In order to prepare for the reckoning, leadership must be present. In order for the cake of leadership to be baked with consistency and familiarity, then a set of ingredients must be used.
What are those ingredients?
While not exhaustive, it is helpful to begin listing out the ingredients of leadership remembering that leadership is also a phenomenon that “you will know it when you see it”.
As you think through the ingredients of leadership, here are eight must-haves.
First, every leader must lead with purpose (Vision and Mission).
At risk of sounding cliche, purpose is the hard work of actively, and physically writing down a detailed snapshot of the future destination where your organization or family are headed.
While vision is explanatory and detailed, your mission is simply telling the rest of us why you wish to go there.
Second, every leader must lead with defined values.
Values are the curbs along the side of the road towards your vision. They are the boundaries that ensure that you limit damage, and stay on the most intentional route towards your ultimate destination.
Third, every leader must lead with repetition.
Every leader must lead with repetition.
Every leader must lead with repetition.
Fourth, every leader must lead with grit. Grinding at the right time, instilling clarity into each and every role, identifying fear and pushing through with courage, and committed to trailing a mentor.
Leadership is a complex cocktail of work, clarity, courage, and learning. Grit ensures the potency of that cocktail.
Fifth, every leader must have extreme self-awareness.
You have tendencies, biases, routines, and habits that help to shape your persona to the outside world.
You’re prone to screaming, steaming, laughing, rising up, or withdrawing. Regardless of the tendency, leaders must be aware of their own selves if they are to ever influence another person.
Six, every leader must lead with desire.
There is little use in asking someone to do a thing with jubilee and enthusiasm if desire is lacking.
Sure, you can dictate and statute the road to getting your way. But far better to show real desire, and also recruit for desire.
Why is the world of sports filled with stories of world-class talent massively underperforming?
Desire.
Seventh, every leader must lead with an abundance mindset convinced that all that you need to accomplish your vision either is or will be available at the time you need it.
Planning is necessary, but will only get you so far. Belief in future opportunities is as much a profitable resource as cash in the bank; for there will be times where the latter is unavailable, but the former will be the only check you can cash.
Eight, every leader must lead with maturity.
Most Tuesday nights we have between 5 and 15 teenaged young men sitting around the fire pit in our backyard as we talk about BIG wins, and issues of life (relationships, money, leadership, Hemingway, etc.).
One of our more frequent topics is the idea of maturity, and one of the questions I get regularly is, “do you mature as you age?”
My standard response is, “you cannot have maturity without age, but you can certainly age without maturity.”
There are plenty of 18-year-old minds encased in 46-year-old bodies. Maturity is advancement and development, and it requires work.
While child-LIKE-ness is a value and asset, child-ISH-ness is a hindrance and roadblock.
Finally, every leader must lead with empathy. Sherry Turkle, in her powerful and important book Reclaiming Conversations suggests that we are in the midst of a crisis of empathy.
Empathy is feeling the inside of another person and their situation. While not understanding the details of that situation, you can certainly “rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep” (Paul writing a letter to many living in Rome - Romans 12:15).
Culturally, we are more conditioned to judge a person’s situation and render a verdict rather than simply feeling what that person feels in their particular moment.
It is not vogue to feel in leadership…but we must try.
These are just some of the ingredients of healthy leadership. I hope you’ll at least pick one, lock-in, and use it to grow in your leadership to make an impact on the people who follow you.
Hey, y’all! Brent Perry with Business on Purpose.
In the 5th round of the 2021 NFL draft, with the 149th overall pick, the Cincinnati Bengals elected to draft a kicker out of the University of Florida named Evan McPherson. McPherson was the first, and ultimately the only kicker taken at that year's draft. The only 1.
259 picks in total, and 1 kicker.
Fast forward to February of 2022 and as you may be aware, the Cincinnati Bengals, who drafted McPherson, are about to play for a Super Bowl.
McPherson’s stats on the season:
McPherson finished the season 28/33 on field goal attempts (84.8%), with 9 of 11 from at least 50 yards.
In the Bengals playoff game against the Las Vegas Raiders, he made 4 of 4 field goals, assisting the team to a 26-19 victory that gave them their first postseason win in 31 years.
Subsequently, in a Divisional Round game, he again made 4 of 4 field goals, including two from over 50 yards. His 52-yard field goal as time expired gave the Bengals a 19-16 win over the Tennessee Titans to send them to the first AFC Championship Game since 1988.
McPherson also became the first kicker in NFL history to kick 4 field goals in multiple games during the same postseason.
In the AFC Championship Game against the Kansas City Chiefs, McPherson made all four field-goal attempts, including a game winning 31-yard field goal in overtime in the 27-24 win, advancing the Bengals to the Super Bowl.
My favorite story from the postseason, McPherson said to his teammates, “Looks like we’re going to the AFC Championship.“, before taking the game-winning 52-yard field goal against the Titans as time was expiring and he was taking the field.
So why do you draft a kicker? Because roles matter. And they matter in your business as well.
We’re not all made to be the starting quarterback. Or the nose tackle. Or the long snapper. But a well-built team has all of those pieces in place.
And we want your business to be a well-built team. But that doesn’t just happen overnight. It will take some time and some work.
A few tips:
First, it is important to have a well-defined organization chart with detailed job roles.
Your organizational chart should be able to be easily translated by your employees. Knowing the flow of communication and work responsibilities for their specific role.
And speaking of roles, make sure that you have a detailed job description for your employees. One that they have access to, and is reviewed at regular intervals.
Second, weekly team meetings!
This is your chance to bring your team together. All the different roles in the same room, together. It’s a time to build culture, strategize, train, and equip your team. We want team meetings to be a priority for your business.
And the third and final tip, have a good hiring process.
Getting the right people in your door for the right role doesn’t just happen. But with the right hiring process and knowing your team, and what exactly you are looking for…
You might just draft your Evan McPherson.
Thanks for listening.
If you haven’t done so already, subscribe to our Podcast, and/or our YouTube channel.
Why do your relationships with your employees always feel strained? Why don’t we feel like we’re a harmonious team running towards the same vision? Well, I have 3 pitfalls that business owners fall into today that cause friction and tension on every team I witness. Let’s talk about it.
Hey there friends, Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose here…just grateful for you tuning in to listen for a few minutes today.
Business Owners and employees. A match made in heaven? Right? Or hell! No, I’m kidding. But how can we help this obviously strained relationship? How can we have employees who feel respected and excited to come into work? Well, today I want to give you, the business owner, 3 things that you may do without even knowing it that probably contribute to friction and relational strain with your employees.
Now, obviously, all of these are somewhat on a spectrum. I will speak towards the worst-case scenario but take some time to look inwardly and see if any part of it is true for you. At the end of the day, employees want a stable environment where their work is respected and they enjoy what they’re doing.
Alright, let’s dive on in!
The first thing that business owners do that causes friction?
Failing to actively listen. I was challenged on this just last week. Occasionally we will sit in on each other’s coaching meetings just as a way to make sure we all have the same messaging and gain some powerful feedback on our effectiveness as coaches. I had another member of our team tell me to slow down a bit. As my client was speaking it felt like I was waiting for my turn to talk, to dive right in with the answer instead of validating the question and wait until they are finished speaking.
I was so grateful for the critique because I didn’t even know I was doing it. So, if I’m doing it, are you? When you’re sitting in a team meeting are you trying to get through it as quickly as possible so you can get the team back to making money? Are you listening to your employees as they bring up frustrations? Do you check your phone during your check-ins and onboarding times? Do you shoot down their dreams and squash their complaints? Do you do anything with the information given? Or does it just sit in a file somewhere… and the information shared just falls on deaf ears.
Or do you give eye contact? Repeat the problems. Take the time to work through it with them? Follow up and help solve the problem? Lean in, not get worked up? You see, active listening takes time. It can’t be rushed through because the receiving side always senses it! Your employees can tell when you’re not with them and your mind is elsewhere.
Resist the temptation to multitask in those situations and actively listen. It will help your relationships with your employees… I guarantee it.
This is one I see all the time in businesses… and just in my life in general!
Just this weekend, I saw this in my own home. We laugh about it now, but it was not funny at the time! So, we were about to head to dinner with my in-laws on Friday night. My wife was getting ready and asked me to go put some nicer and warmer clothes on our kids for the evening. Nice and specific, right? Can’t screw this one up
So, I went upstairs, grabbed the first warm thing in the drawer for my son, the second warm thing for my daughter. And here’s where I admit that I am not known for dressing my kids well. I don’t understand color schemes and toddler fashion. I heard warm and nice.
As I get downstairs with the kids dressed (my son in grey sweatpants and a dark grey thermal shirt. My daughter in a white thermal that barely covered her midriff. My wife got frustrated with me and went up to change the kids again. I had picked the wrong thermal shirt and did not realize my mishaps until it was too late. The lack of clarity on the front end caused friction.
Now, should I have known that gray on gray was probably not the best idea? Yep. Should I have grabbed a shirt for my daughter that covered all of her torso? Yes, most definitely yes. But this highlights the need for clear communication on the front end.
Your employees need a clearly communicated request. We hear all the time, well they should know what I’m asking for. Why? They can’t read your mind and probably don’t care as much as you do. So set them up for success. Get specific. And write that specificity into a clearly articulated process for them to follow.
That way it doesn’t have to be done twice! And that way you can celebrate a job well done instead of it leading to discontentment, resentment, and friction amongst the team.
It is your job as the leader to set the standard and communicate. All the way, no assumptions.
I get it, there’s a time for fun and a time to grind. Scott in his coaching time last week talked about grinding…at the right time. There’s a time to put on the blinders and just get work done! But, how are you capturing the heart of your team? We’re coming up on calendar year 4 of this COVID pandemic. How are you helping be a pressure release valve as anxiety and stress for families are at an all-time high?
I was so proud of one of my clients who rose to the challenge and planned a team bowling afternoon with all of their employees still on the clock. They literally paid their employees to go bowling for the afternoon and made it fun along the way.
That’s a team that they will not leave. That makes the hard conversations more bearable and shows that you care about them as more than just a cog in your businesses wheel.
Make time for fun. Is it something silly at your team meeting, a minute to win it game, or something to break up the monotony? Is it a movie night where they bring their families? How are you infusing some fun along the way? We spend ⅓ of our lives at work… isn’t there some room for enjoyment and fun in the midst of it all? I think so and I think every time you do, it releases some of that friction and makes you feel more like a team they want to be a part of.
So, to recap. Friction is intensified when you
I hope that makes sense. If you need help thinking through this, please reach out. We’d love to help
Have a great week
The call hit his cell phone around 7:47 am on Wednesday morning. It was one of his most stable key employees calling and she sounded scattered.
Over the next few minutes, the key employee began explaining a situation happening at home that was agonizing. An addiction with a member of their home had led to that family member stealing money from this employee to the point that insufficient funds were flagged at the employee’s bank.
She was wrecked, broken, hurt, and trying to run the household with an overdrawn bank account.
The business owner who had received the call was in a place to have this employee stop by his office so he and his wife could sit down to grieve, and gameplan next steps. They were leading their employee through a remarkable and unprecedented situation.
Leadership matters because followers are often in a position where finding their own way is too taxing, or nearly impossible.
Leaders can only lead in an atmosphere where there are followers ready to follow.
In any culture there will always be followers to follow; the greater challenge is finding leaders who are committed to lead.
Vision is said to be the beacon by which the attention of followers can be harnessed into a movement that transforms.
Where there is no vision, we are warned in the Jewish Proverbs, people will scatter.
So where does such unifying vision emerge? From leaders; people who are willing to risk their reputation, their capabilities, and their relationships to craft a snapshot of some future, compelling destination.
And then, with great repetition and spirit, a leader invites followers along the highway of values to the destination of vision, all for a defined purpose or mission.
Leadership matters because without it, people scatter.
Leadership matters because without it, people take aim at nothing.
Leadership matters because when apathy sets in and fear slowly chips away, it is leadership that speaks up, calls out, and puts into motion the very vision-centered activity that will either have victory or defeat believing that either one is better than the apathy of nothing at all.
Leadership matters because lukewarmness is the default of a life without leaders.
When a leader emerges, technologies shift and grow.
When a leader emerges, ideologies begin spreading.
When a leader emerges, movements begin their important work of transformation.
When a leader emerges, life gets pushed, moved, spun, lifted, and dropped.
Theodore Roosevelt famously reminds us that it is the “cold and timid soul(s) who have never known neither victory nor defeat.”
Leadership matters because our own transformation and growth matters. Without leadership, we are left to a life of timidity and fear.
With leadership, we embrace power, love, and a sound mind.
ACTION: write down one thing in your life that would not be true if a leader did not step in and encourage you into a specific direction.